The independent report into the governance crisis at the University of Cape Town, released this week, has pulled no punches in assigning blame to individuals -- but it is the institution as a whole that has suffered. What can South Africa learn from UCT's experience?

1 Who leads institutions really matters

There is sometimes an assumption that the identity of the person at the very top of an institution matters little. There are checks and balances to curb the worst excesses of power, goes this thinking, and so many people make up the DNA of large institutions that there's a limit to how much harm one person can do.

This might be true for certain largely ceremonial roles -- like the chancellor of a university -- but it clearly is not valid for many others. South Africa learnt this the hard way through the presidency of Jacob Zuma, and UCT learnt this the hard way through the vice-chancellorship of Mamokgethi Phakeng.

This is made clear by the independent report into the governance crisis at UCT released this week. The report lists no fewer than nine individuals critical to the functioning of UCT -- deputy vice-chancellors, executive directors and top administrators -- who left the university as a more or less direct result of their treatment at the hands of the leadership duo of Phakeng and the UCT Council chair, Babalwa Ngonyama.

Elsewhere the report details other significant resignations with the same cause, including of...